America's Cup: Defender unveils new yacht - competitors shocked?
Red bow, black hull and the familiar turquoise and black kiwi design with bright foils: this is how the new AC75 yacht from Emirates Team New Zealand was seen this Friday on the outdoor area of the New Zealand team camp. Shortly before the christening of the "Red Moon" from the Italian team Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli this weekend and the christening of the new racing cars from Alinghi Red Bull Racing next week, the Kiwis showed their pride under a blue and white sky. Despite the surprise unveiling without announcement, the competition from the Design not be too shocked.
Important step towards the 37th America's Cup: "A very significant moment"
"This is always a very significant moment for every team. The first time the race boat comes out of the hall and sees the light of day," said Kevin Shoebridge, COO of Emirates Team New Zealand, almost a little reverently. Not only the man who has been part of every New Zealand team that has won the America's Cup four times since the first victory in 1995 knows: "These moments are some of the most revealing in any campaign. Much of the America's Cup campaign takes place behind closed doors and in the strictest secrecy about designs and plans, but there always comes a time when you have to reveal your cards."
"It" is the new Kiwi rocket that will defend the America's Cup off Barcelona from 12 to 21 October. The third and final pre-regatta for the 37th America's Cup from 22 to 25 August on Barcelona's Cup stage will provide the first serious insights into its performance, when the Kiwis will compete against all the challengers on their new boats for the first time. The Louis Vuitton Cup challenger series will then begin on 29 August.
Prior to today's unveiling, the New Zealander's AC75 monohull foiler had been transported under cover of darkness from the team's shipyard in North Shore to the team camp at Wynyard Point, where an intensive fitting out programme was carried out. Kevin Shoebridge explained: "We've had today on the calendar for a long time as the date we want to put the rig in the boat. It's always important to reach these significant milestones, which obviously require a huge amount of dedication, commitment and hard work from the whole team."
No quantum leap: meaningful model evolution of "Te Rehutai"?
Shoebridge continued: "So it's a proud day, but we still have a mountain to climb in the next seven months to successfully defend the America's Cup in October, so there's still a lot to look forward to as a team." Part of the work will be transporting the boat to Barcelona.
It is not yet known when this will take place. The recent launch came as a surprise and without any announcement or fanfare. The New Zealanders are undoubtedly setting an exclamation mark and offering a strong contrast to the Alinghi-Launch, which included a show by a theatre group and the caused a sensation.
On the design side, Team New Zealand also offered far fewer surprises; at first glance, the new aircraft appeared almost identical to the winning yacht from the previous edition, which had been reworked as a training boat. Even at second glance, there are no radical innovations; instead of a quantum leap, the as yet nameless yacht looks more like the sensible model evolution of "Te Rehutai".
These innovations characterise the racing yacht for the 37th America's Cup
"Although we haven't revealed all our cards today, it gives everyone an indication of our design path," said Kevin Shoebridge. The most obvious of these clues is the significantly rounder design language in almost all areas of the boat. There is no hard edge at the deck transition, in the stern section or on the bustle. The new AC75 appears streamlined and as if from a single mould. The V-bow deviates slightly from this with an extremely sharp underwater edge that leads into an implied mini-bustle. This was also seen in a much more aggressive form on Alinghi's "BoatOne".
The actual bustle, i.e. the bulge on the underwater hull that looks like a long keel, is also less pronounced and is instead more integrated into the general hull shape. Further aft, however, it becomes increasingly prominent. In general, this is intended to provide buoyancy and primarily prevent wind circulation underneath the hull. In this way, the racing yacht acts more as a whole to the wind, equalising the pressure between the windward and leeward sides as much as possible. The cupper is therefore flown as flat as possible above the water surface, which is also possible on a video of the first test shot.
Despite the difficult wave conditions, which make more volume expected in the bow section, Team New Zealand's Cupper appears sleeker and flatter than its predecessor in precisely this area. However, this impression could also be due to the slightly higher cockpits, which cannot be resolved on the basis of the images published so far. However, this could be logically explained by the greater demand for space for the re-authorised cyclists.
Will new foils be crucial for the Cup defence?
At the same time, the number of crew for the 37th America's Cup was reduced from twelve to eight sailors, which saves weight and allows for a more aerodynamic stern design. The New Zealanders also make use of this and significantly shorten the side capsule cockpits, but then allow the panelling to slowly drop down to the transom. Alinghi took the radical route here and finished off the cockpit with a hard edge, possibly to save even more weight and volume.
Meanwhile, the New Zealanders have made their bowsprit shorter and thinner. While it was assumed during the Cup preparations for Auckland 2021 that larger headsails or even code zeros would be attached to it, this idea has obviously been completely abandoned. Instead, it is now only used for good positioning of the measuring devices, including for attitude control and wind parameters.
As only one set of foils is permitted for cost reasons and the new Cupper already came out of the hangar with wings, it can be assumed that these are foils from "Te Rehutai". The wings of the new racing machine, on the other hand, are presumably still being kept secret. Alinghi had already fitted them, but then concealed them with a bulky screen.
In this clip you can see the New Zealand racing yacht for the 37th America's Cup under sail for the first time:
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